Interview with Franzi Thomczik, Pastry Chef of the E5 Bakehouse

27 June 2014

I’m continuing along the Make and Cake
Tangent here at TWIHM. After recent efforts or “dabblings” with sugar craft for
the Cherub’s birthday, we are moving up a notch or two; an interview with a bona fide pastry chef. Franzi Thomczik
is creator of cakes at the E5 Bakehouse
in Hackney, an establishment famed for its sourdough bread but also a
purveyor of cinnamon buns, opera cakes and salted caramel & chocolate tarts
beyond compare. Even
Nigella has sent her blessings from Twitter heaven upon the latter. And the
day I had the chance to be a guinea pig for a prototype, inhouse version of the Tea Cake – Oh, the dark
chocolate. Oh, the mallow. Oh! The berry jam! - will go down
in my personal history as a Significant Life Moment.

Cinnamon buns. A little known but very effective cure for writer's block.

Franzi hails from Berlin where she trained
as a Konditor. This is somewhat more than a mere baker of cakes. The emphasis
for a Konditor is on cakes’ decoration and artistic presentation. We’re talking about a profession with a fair wodge of history behind it. The trade’s origins
kick off around the 12th century with the introduction of sugar from
the Middle East, exciting, moldable and edible stuff like marzipan (thank you
Medieval Venetians for both of those) and candied fruit for sweet breads. Oh,
and it seems convents, abbeys and other religious institutions played an
important part in the development of decorative, cakey deliciousness to
coincide with religious feast days. There was a big emphasis on almonds and
honey in various forms of tart.

For those who fancy practicing their rusty German, there's a potted history on the German Konditor Guild's (Yes! They have a guild and have done since the 16th century) website, here.

Right, dragging myself from the fascinating
medieval history – be still, my beating heart – back to a very contemporary London
where Franzi moved to. There she worked at Peggy Porschen, the bespoke and very
chic cake maker in Belgravia, where she learnt many an additional whizzy thing
about decoration and sugar craft. However, a bread internship at the E5
Bakehouse resulted in a job offer and Franzi headed East, away from society
wedding cakes to create her own pastry section. Franzi very generously sat down
with me and we had a marvellous chat about cakes, baking and a few tips of the
trade.

Cake. That is all.

At first Franzi’s move East was an
interesting one. “It took time to get established here at
the Bakehouse. The tastes are so different here to West London.” But by
observing customers, responding to their requests and excitement about new
cakes Franzi soon had a very strong pastry selection. Support and creativity
also flowed from her colleagues, both bread bakers and other pastry chefs who later joined the Bakehouse. “There are so many people from all over the
world here at the Bakehouse; the variety is fantastic. I could travel the world
but everyone’s ideas are all together here.”

Ah, there’s that theme again of international
networks influencing cakes. Curiously, these influences are sometimes unknown
to keen consumers of cake. Brownies and lemon meringue pie are amongst the most
popular requests but so part of the baking mainstream have these
imports - hailing in their current form from America - become that they are considered English classics. In fact, “you tend to
get a lot of muscovado and treacle in classic British cakes, more nutmeg,
ginger and cardammon. It’s spicier here than in Germany where we use much more
cinnamon and cloves”.

On another sweeping historical tangent
here I wonder if EMPIRE might have something to do with the distinctive flavours of
British versus German cakes. All that muscovado and treacle hailed from the
Caribbean sugar plantations (British). Meanwhile nutmeg, ginger and cardamom
came from – respectively – Indonesia (granted, this was a Dutch territory but
the British had Malaysia. Close enough), South China before cultivated in West
Africa and the Caribbean (British trade connections with the former and
colonies in the latter two) and India (East India Company, anyone?). However, Germany was an uncomfortable mélange of independent
kingdoms, dukedoms, princedoms before concentrating on becoming a united German
Federation during
the 19th century. There’s not too
much time for empire-building and exotic spice cultivation in those sort of circumstances.

Hence cloves in German baking. Cinammon. And butter. And
cream. And other delicious ingredients that are traditional.

It’s fascinating how themes like tradition and nostalgia do
play a significant role in cakes. “Yes”, says Franzi “It’s often what drives
customers’ requests. I have free rein to try new things at the Bakehouse but
you can’t reinvent everything. There is a reason you have classic cakes, like
the Eccles cake. It’s great to keep these traditional things more traditional”.

Franzi replenishing the pastry selection. This is always a happy moment for customers.

These traditional recipes were often
created in response to the seasonality of ingredients. Seasonality,
sustainability and local provenance are key elements of the E5 Bakehouse’s
ethos so it’s all rather complementary. Once Franzi sees what’s available from
suppliers, she can plan and experiment with her pending pastry selection. In
essence, “summer is a time for refreshing flavours whilst winter is the
chocolate and nutty season with quite a bit of dried fruit.” Spring is tough
though: “People have had too much rhubarb and are over apples and pears!”

Ingredients have an important impact on
the freshness and longevity of a cake. The more butter and sugar in a recipe –
essentially many 'wintery' cakes like brownies, pecan pie, ginger cake – the
longer it needs to sit. The flavour needs to develop.

However, “you must eat anything with
fruit as soon as possible and the same goes for cheese cake.” French
patissier-style cakes also fall into this category. “Choux pastry needs to be
eaten quickly as it soaks up all the moisture from the cream”.

So there are some useful eating tips –
always gratefully received – but what about making tips? Could a mere mortal
with lashings of enthusiasm rather than years of professional training attempt
a few tricks of the trade? Of course we can. Franzi notes that “silicon molds
are really useful for making beautiful structures out of mousses and creams.
The molds are also great for freezing and baking.” If you are trying some
fruitier numbers “boil up some apricot with a bit of water and then strain it.
Use it to paint the fruit and give them a glaze”. For those of the
waste-not-want-not school of thought, “boil up apple peel and cores in water
with caster sugar for an hour. Strain it and leave it cool. Heat it up again.
The high pectin means you can use it to glaze cakes like Hot Cross Buns.”

But amongst the seemingly infinite panoply
of cakes available to Franzi, which are her favourite? “To make, it’s the Opera
Cake. It’s an elaborate one with butter cream and a lovely joconde all
in layers. I love making mousses and choux pastry as they create the challenge of
timing and precision. It’s the satisfaction of making something, knowing it’s
not something everyone can do.”

Preparing brownies. Who gets to lick the bowl? Actually, is that even allowed?!

It’s a funny old thing that craft and cake tend
to go hand in hand. Making things in a group as well as eating things in a
group are important glues that bind families, friends, generations and
communities together. The interesting contrast is that there is so much
passion, creativity and excitement in both say, knitting and baking a cake, yet
you’re left with a tangible relic from crafting. For years you could end up
wearing the jumper you made. I mean, archaeologists recently found two pairs of
3,000
year-old woolen trousers.

There’s longevity for you.

By contrast there is an ephemerality to
baking, beautiful and delicious constructions that bring so much pleasure to
the moment but are soon gone. Oddly though, it’s those ephemeral experiences
that can be the most intense in our memories (Exhibit A: Indecent Tea Cake
Prototype). A whiff of cinnamon or the taste of Crème Chantilly can transport
you back to a past event or place with a rich immediacy that is breathtaking.

But it’s the process of making in both
crafting and baking that bring so much pleasure and creative joy.

And imagine having the privilege of making
and enjoying that creativity every day. To my mind, Franzi falls into the same
category as freelance knitters, indie yarn dyers and knitwear designers. They
all have that privilege. To quote Franzi, “I’ve got the dream job. I am an
absolute cake addict and when not at work, I enjoy eating cake. I pretend it’s
for professional reasons but really, it’s because I love cake”.

Happiness is... a day job doing what you love. Bonus if that involves making cake.

With many thanks to Franzi for her time and
generosity with this interview.